Eternal Is Just A Word
by stardust-bones
Summary: Tell to me a promise that makes the angels weep. Teach me to love and you shall know what secret darkness keeps. An OC pack and their journey on the road to Paradise.


**AN: I decided to try my hand again at Wolf's Rain. Let's see where this goes. Originally, this was meant to be an 'OC takes over the plot' sorta thing, but I created so many characters that I decided that I'd rather have a story about a separate pack of OCs. (I'm aware this should prolly go on FictionPress, but I want to put it up here for now. I'll work in the canon in bits and pieces. Regardless, have fun reading it!}**

**Today's inspirations include the amazing run I had this morning, texting a friend, and listening to Abingdon Boys School.**

**Disclaimers: Of course I own nothing but my characters and some beat-up manga volumes. I'm not Bones, for cryin' out loud! No profit was made from this.**

He was slumped against the alleyway, mottled, dirty bricks pressing into his back like needles. He wiped his spectacles across his shirt, leaving a thin film of dust and mist behind on the dark fabric, and raised them to the sky, squinting at the lenses. Satisfied with his results, he placed them back on his face and let his hands fall to his sides.

He peered up at the clouds again, and a frown spread across his features.

He clapped his hands together and straightened up. "We'd better hurry home Tai," he declared, and gestured for his companion to come. "It could start raining any minute now. Besides, I bet mom's probably worried about us."

A moment of silence passed before he received the reply, sharp and crisp and clear in his head. He flinched at the invading noise, even though the voice was warm and gentle. He thought he'd finally gotten used to it.

_Comin', Yuki. Gimme a sec._

The orange wolf stretched, yawning as her joints popped and creaked. Her white-tipped ears twitched slightly. Her tail wagged happily. She pulled herself up from the pile of garbage where she had been resting.

The two looked at each other for a bit.

"Race you," he stated, arching back into a prepared stance. He held up a few fingers. "Three. Two. One."

They took off running into the waning light.

0~0~0~0

It looked so inviting, the twisted limbs of metal and wood. She leaned over the track, and tears slid down her face. Behind her, shouts and snarls filled her senses. She knew they were coming closer. She could hear the hound baying and the gunshots slamming haphazardly behind her. At the same time, the rattle of an oncoming locomotive gave her a way out.

She ignored the screams of the wolf-hunter. Instead, she sucked in as much air as she could, leaned her head back and bellowed to the sky.

"You'll see! You'll all see! Someday I'm going to open Paradise!"

She laughed maniacally and jumped beneath the wheels of the train.

0~0~0~0

Lightning cleaved the sky in two separate pieces, jagged swirls of molten electricity spreading out in waves. The night glowed with menacing energy as thunder boomed in the distance. Clouds swirled in frightening amounts. Abundant ebony fog twisted in-between the cracks of an already melancholy existence, murky dregs winding around the unsuspecting populace.

And, as if to make it worse, it was raining in buckets. Voluminous, overflowing buckets of ice water. Or maybe even just ice. Eidorian wasn't sure what the difference was at that point, but regardless he knew that they were going to have to find shelter, and find it fast.

The wind nearly slammed him backwards. His grasp tightened on his brother's hand. He spat and wiped the rain from his eyes. He kept an arm up to shield his face, causing his tattered windbreaker to constantly brush against his forehead.

"Brother," the small boy behind him whimpered. "I'm hungry."

Eido nearly groaned, but stuck on a brave face. It couldn't get much worse.

"We're almost there," he sighed, even though he really had no idea when they would arrive. "Just keep on walking. We'll have food soon, I promise."

The boy cocked his head. "Where're we goin' again?"

Eido tugged at him to keep up. He obliged, running forward.

"We're headed for that little dot on the horizon." He pointed at a small black blip several miles away. "It's a place called Freeze City."

Ruk nodded. "You think the rain'll ever stop?"

He didn't get a chance to reply. Sound waves echoed across the barren, dusty waste of a landscape as thunder roared with a call to kill. The elder boy gritted his teeth as another gust washed over them. Water wormed its way through his clothes, and the chill pierced his skin. He nearly gave up hope when he realized his brother was trembling as well.

"Hey, Ruk, why don't you climb on my back?" he proposed.

Ruk grinned, and when Eido knelt down the boy jumped eagerly onto the elder's back and buried his face into the scruff of Eido's neck.

Eido breathed in deeply. His steps slowed considerably with the weight of his brother, but he was glad the boy could get some rest. They had been traveling all day, running nonstop for hours, and they hadn't eaten in what felt like forever.

And always, always, there was the scent that tugged at his nose that filled his brain to the very brim, which put every nerve on edge and filled every breath with determination, every heartbeat with hope.

It was the scent of lunar flowers.

And it was getting closer with every passing moment.

Ahead of them, a thin line scarred the ground. To most, it would have been a fact of life, and a rundown, abandoned one at that. But to him, it meant much more. To Eido, it meant freedom.

"Look…" Eido smiled, and pointed at the spectacle that they arrived at. "Train tracks. You know what that means?"

Ruk laughed, and the sound sent the chill flying from Eido's bones. "That means we're almost there!"

Childish excitement filled them with the urge to run. He took up a fast pace, boots slamming the ground and scuffing more and more with every step. His laces flapped to the tune of a steady march.

In the distance, a noise besides thunder and his brother's chatter reached his ears. He stopped completely, and turned sharply to the west. Beads of sweat formed on his forehead, and the hairs on the back of his neck rose.

It sounded like a scream.

"Hey Eido, when we get there, I'm gonna eat as much food as I-" Eido's fingers blocked whatever sentence Ruk was saying.

"Hush," he muttered, brows furrowing. "I heard something."

Obediently, Ruk fell quiet.

The scream came again, loud and violent, a churning maelstrom of words Eido couldn't identify, lost to the wind and slurred by the rain.

He strained his hearing to catch what was being said. A train whizzed by him in a blur of vibrations and noise, cargo load bouncing up and down with a clatter, wheels and whistles screeching in a tone so high-pitched it made his ears hurt.

The thinnest, tiniest sliver of an object flew in front of the train, but he barely had enough time to make out what it was before the train continued speeding across the tracks.

For perhaps a second, his heart stopped beating, lost in shock.

Underneath the layers of the scream, he made out one single, emotion-filled word. It echoed in his head, three syllables filled with passion and pain and the one thing that he was truly searching for.

Paradise.


End file.
